Serenity

Something that I was really impressed with when my aunt went to the nursing home, was that they brought someone in to help her become more independent, even though she was living in a nursing home because she had pretty much exhausted her resources of living on her own independently. It became obvious, with all the health problems she had that living alone would not be a good idea. For all the problems she did have, I always thought she did wonderful living alone as long as she did. This help she received in the nursing came in the form of giving her tools to make allow her to do things for herself — such as putting her socks on by herself, or her shoes. She had a special computer that she brought from when she lived alone, as well as the magnifying glasses, but they provided her with other low vision aids that helped her to read and see things a bit better on her own, rather than having to have someone read things to her, or write out her checks. Yes, towards the end, she became more and more dependent, but some of the aids they gave her were just amazing. It was like “why didn’t I think of that”? You just don’t realize until you are there to what people who can’t see go through, or people who need assistance in other ways, just how much they depend on others. When tools can be used, it is a good thing.

I need to make tomorrow a day of renewal. My feet are swollen and I am tired of feeling like I do — both physically and mentally. I need to take that first step again, and make an attempt. I’m sure I can’t get my doctor to allow me to take Orovo or any other diet product that I would ask him about. But I can’t let that stop me. I have to figure out what IS stopping me from even trying, and overcome it, and start making a difference in my life. Life shouldn’t be like this, and I’m the one doing it to myself.

The two places I work now, we mail out a little bit, but not a bunch. But when we worked for the manufacturing plant, we used alot of labels. Alot. We shipped out many many boxes each day, so they really need to be durable and readable getting to its destination. I’m not sure we ever used Thermal labels, but I know we did try various different labels before settling on one kind. At the church now, since we don’t mail out a lot, I order from this company that is just down the road from us. They are half the price of what regular address labels are. You can buy the name brand ones from them as well; but what we order is described as “good as”. And they truly are! I have never had a problem with running them through our printer, and most of our mail goes local, so its not like it has to go through several processes of handling. If it saves us money, and it works for what we need them for, why pay the higher price?

Even though Ethan wants to be a teacher, there are times that I think he would make a good lawyer — at least in the sense, that he likes to always argue, and at times, he actually makes a good point. He was pretty emphatic yesterday, when he was talking about the upcoming prom, how hypocritical they were being. The school and parents have really emphasized the “no alcohol” issue. SADD put on a “mock disaster” program this week, showing just what all is involved when a drunk driver hits someone. You can talk about it, and go into detail about the dangers, but this definately is one instance that a picture is worth a thousand words. The mock disaster showed 2 cars that had hit head on, and then the drama group was the group of “friends” that came up on the scene, and the range of emotions that goes on when something like this happens. They showed one of the boys calling 911, and what that phone call would be like, they literally brought in ambulances and the lifestar helicoptor. The fire department one of the cars apart with the jaws of life. Ethan video taped part of it, and will be posting it to his blog one of these days. When he does, I’ll let you know.

Anyway — there is definately this “no-alcohol” theme going on — and yet, they had a Margarita machine to serve non-acholoic Margaritas, and I’m sure they didn’t drink it out of paper cups. Maybe they didn’t use Riedel glasses, but I’m sure they used something that was similar to what a real Margarita would have gone it. I understand the emphasis on the “non-alcoholic” Margaritas … and yet, is that sending a mixed message. Why have it all? Just serve regular punch. Pop dispensers. I know these kids are becoming adults, and we should treat them as such, but I agree with Ethan, that it did seem to send a mixed message. Don’t drink alcohol, but here, have a drink that is very much associated with alcohol. Doesn’t make sense to me.

AUTHOR BIO

D.C. Stewart grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, and spent most of her childhood getting into trouble with her younger brother on their ranch. She began writing short stories in high school, and won a writing competition at a nearby college at age 17. After graduating, she attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University and earned a degree in History, and also met her husband, Scott. She worked for a church in Maumelle, Arkansas as the Communications Coordinator for five years. After moving back to Oklahoma, she chose to stay home with their four year old twin boys, and six month old baby girl, and to pursue her dream of being a full-time writer. The Stewart’s live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Where Would Cows Hide? is her first novel.

Visit her website

Buy Now

~~*~~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~~*~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~

AUTHOR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

**How did you come up with your characters, Charlie and Brad?
A combination of what my brother and I were like as kids, the stories I heard about my husband and his twin when they were kids, and how I imagined my own twin sons acting when they reached eleven years old.

**Do you have experience living or working on a farm? Any funny stories related to that?
Everyone on both sides of my family are farmers, doing a combination of growing wheat and raising cattle. Our house was in town, but we spent most of our time, especially in the summer, on tractors, combines, wheat trucks, in pick-ups, and working cattle.

The only funny story I can think of about me is helping my dad, mom, and brother one morning feeding and counting the cows. The cattle all came into the lots except one, and my dad told me to hurry and open the gate to let her in before the other cows could get out. As I pulled the gate open and trotted backward, I tripped over a concrete block used to hold the gate in place, and got hung up in the chain. I was stuck at such a weird angle I couldn’t get myself loose and all the cattle were rushing at me to get out. I was kicking and waving all over the place trying to keep them back, but my family thought I was panicking because I was stuck. They still give me grief over that one.

**Brad and Charlie have a quirky younger sister who sometimes drives them crazy. Do you relate?
I have a younger brother who used to drive me nuts all the time, but we were also the best playmates because we are so close in age. I have friends who were the “younger sister” and I remember them getting yelled at by their older siblings all the time.

**Brad and Charlie stay at their grandparents for an annual summer vacation. What’s your favorite place to vacation and why?
Honestly, I don’t really have a “favorite” place to vacation. We didn’t have the opportunity to travel much when I was a kid, so ANY vacation is awesome to me. I love to travel, eat different foods, take in the scenery, watch the people. It’s all new and exciting to me.

**As a writing mom, how do you juggle the demands of your kids and your career?
With great difficulty. I have a wonderful and supportive husband who gives me time in the evenings and on weekends to write. Usually if anything suffers between my writing and taking care of the kids, it’s our house. I’m more of a relaxed housekeeper (fancy title for slob), and I only move on the housework if there are no clean clothes, we have to order out because there is no room to cook in the kitchen, and if I walk across the floors and they crunch.

~~*~~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~~*~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~

Read the FIRST CHAPTER

“Our plans for summer vacation have changed this year,” Anthony Parker announced to his family over the dinner table.

Brad and Charlie Parker, identical eleven-year-old twins, looked up from their soggy veggie burgers and stared at their father in horror. Their mother, Jeanette, smiled at her husband as she cut her own dinner into bite-sized pieces. Zoey, the twins’ eight-year-old sister, didn’t even look up from her mushy, ketchup-covered French fries.

Brad and Charlie looked at each other, their hazel green eyes clouded with worry, and silently communicated their mutual dread at a change in summer vacation plans. Every summer since the twins were born the Parker family spent a week in Oklahoma with Anthony’s parents, Wade and Anna Parker. For the twins a week on Grandpa and Grandma Parker’s ranch was the closest thing to heaven they could imagine.

“What about Grandpa and Grandma Parker?” Brad asked.

“What about swimming in the pond?” Charlie chimed in.

“And fishing in the creek,” added Brad.

“Catching frogs too!” cried Charlie.

Their dad tried to speak, but Brad and Charlie continued to talk, their voices rising shrilly with every word.

“Grandpa needs our help checking the cattle. He even lets us steer his pick-up through the pasture when Grandma isn’t there,” Charlie blurted.

Looks of surprise were exchanged by their parents, but before either could respond Brad jumped in.

“We want to see our cousins and go horseback riding with them,” Brad told his parents.

Dad held up his hands. “Boys, be quiet for a. . . .”

But Brad said to their father, “Please, we want to go to Oklahoma. Please, Dad, please, please, please. . . . ”

“Just close your mouths and listen for one minute,” he snapped in irritation. “We’re going to Hawaii for two weeks.”

“Hawaii!” Charlie shouted.

“Two weeks!” yelled Brad.

“We don’t want to go to stupid old Hawaii,” complained Charlie. “We want to see Grandpa and Grandma.”

“The three of us aren’t going to Hawaii,” Zoey spoke for the first time since dinner began.

Brad and Charlie looked at their little sister as she swirled her fries around in the ketchup and made smiley-faces with her peas and carrots.

“See,” Charlie exclaimed in triumph, “Zoey doesn’t want to go to Hawaii either!”

“I didn‘t say that,” Zoey said to her brother. “I said we aren’t going to Hawaii. Only Mommy and Daddy are going.”

Her parents looked at Zoey in surprise. Charlie snarled at his sister, but Brad looked at his parents with hope blooming in his heart.

“Is Zoey right?” Brad asked excitedly. “Are you guys really going to Hawaii without us?”

Their mother watched Zoey with a puzzled look on her face, but Dad answered Brad, “Yes, your Mom and I are going to Hawaii, and you three will be staying with Grandpa and Grandma Parker for two weeks this summer.”

Brad and Charlie shouted with joy and gave each other high fives. Their mom was still watching Zoey with a frown on her face.

“Honey, how did you know that you and your brothers aren’t going to Hawaii with Daddy and me?” Mother asked. “We never told you that.”

Zoey looked at her mother and smiled, “God told me.”

There it was.

I can still remember some of the horrendous smells of some of the things my mom tried using on my acne when I was a teenager. We tried various different boughten products. And then she tried natural acne treatment — which, some weren’t so bad, but others … ug. They smelled awful. I don’t know where she came up with some of the concoctions she did, but I would say they were better off left alone. I know she meant well, and she had gone through the same thing as an teenager, as well as an adult. Part of the problem — the acne, I believe was genetic, and I think it was something I was going to have to suffer through regardless of what we did. It did clear up on its own after I had my children, but I still wouldn’t recommend that as a acne treatment. I’m sure it had something to do with my hormones, or maybe the prenatal vitamins. Who knows. But at least I don’t have to endure those smells anymore.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

My Soul To Keep

(Multnomah Books - February 5, 2008)

by

Melanie Wells

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A native of the Texas panhandle and the child of musicians, Melanie Wells attended Southern Methodist University on a music scholarship (she’s a fiddle player), and later completed graduate degrees in counseling psychology and Biblical studies at Our Lady of the Lake University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

She has taught at the graduate level at both OLLU and DTS, and has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992. She is the founder and director of LifeWorks counseling associates in Dallas, Texas, a collaborative community of creative therapists.

When the Day of Evil Comes is her first published work of fiction, and the first of a three-book series. The second work, The Soul Hunter was released in May, 2006. Melanie lives and writes in Dallas.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

As nasty as I knew Peter Terry to be, I never expected him to start kidnapping kids. Much less a sweet, funny little boy with nothing to protect him but a few knock-kneed women, two rabbits and a staple gun…

It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year…graduation day. And her little friend Christine Zocci’s sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seen to lead nowhere.

The police are baffled, but Christine’s eerie connection with the kidnapped child sends Dylan on a chilling investigation of her own. Is the pasty, elusive stranger Peter Terry to blame? Exploding light bulbs, the deadly buzz of a Texas rattlesnake, and the vivid, disturbing dreams of a little girl are just pieces of a long trail of tantalizing clues leading Dylan in her dogged search for the truth.

“Like water rising to a boil, My soul To Keep’s suspense sneaks up on you…before you know it, you’re in the thick if a frightening drama…Superbly crafted.”
—ROBERT LIPARULO, author of Deadfall, Germ, and Comes A Horseman

“Written with passion, a good dose of humor and, dare I say it, soul, this novel reminds us that we all, with grace and good fortune, bumble our way toward salvation.”
—K. L. COOK, author of Late Call and The Girl From Charmelle